So You Want to Put on a Show - Fund Raising
No-one ever has enough money to stage a show perfectly.
There is no doubt that professional companies are constantly having to cut back, and constantly having to seek financial backers.
There is a lot of money to be made in the professional theatre by backing the right show.
There is absolutely no hope of making any significant money with an amateur performance.
So, you have to raise some money.
The first source is from members' subscriptions.
This is the hobby of your performers and backstage enthusiasts, and hobbies cost money.
Most amateur dramatics groups charge a membership fee and a fee for performing in each show.
There is also usually a charge, sometimes only a deposit, for the script and (if it's a musical) the score.
If they are not returned to the hire company with all the pencil marks erased, an extra fee will be charged.
The cast need to be aware of this and use a soft pencil when annotating their script.
Deposits should only be returned when a clean script is offered back.
You might also charge a rehearsal fee, but this can be included in the show fee.
Membership fees do not really amount to much, and will not be enough to be going on with.
You will need to get a grant, then, or several grants, unless your society has a whopping great bank balance.
If you go online and search under 'grants for the Arts' , or something similar, you should find both local and national sources of funding.
Often you can see from the content of the site what it is that will mean your application is looked on favourably.
Lottery funds are available for local amateur productions, but very difficult to obtain.
You will need help filling in the forms.
You will need a written Constitution for the group, and Aims and Objectives.
In the UK you will need a Child Protection Policy if you are going to have young people in the cast, and an Equal Opportunities Policy.
In the latter it really helps if you make it clear that no-one will be prevented from joining the group due to racial differences, or disability, or age, sexual orientation or because of inability to pay membership fees.
You will need to provide Minutes of the last couple of Committee Meetings you have held.
And you will need a Bank Account, with at least two signatories, for the money to be paid into.
If you can achieve all of the above, you should be able to apply for grant aid.
Apply for as many as possible.
Get someone to look over your application for accuracy, both of information and general grammatical and spelling accuracy.
Though it should not affect whether you get a grant or not, a mis-spelled, ungrammatical application (unless it's from the Dyslexia Society - bad joke, sorry!) will not enamour the granting body.
And mention each application you have made on the application form.
You look to be taking it seriously if you are casting your net wide.
Sometimes there are grants to specific sectors of the community - older people, for example, or women's groups.
Be aware of this and apply appropriately.
Don't be too hopeful, don't underestimate the amount of money you need, and don't offer your services for free.
(You can include them under a 'sponsorship in kind' section, where you put a cost on your services and donate them.
Also in this category would be rehearsal spaces lent for nothing, the services of the designer crew and other such generous contributions).
Be aware of all you need to spend, and be realistic.
It is not realistic to say things like, 'We are hopeful that we will sell 100% of our tickets' when this almost never happens.
If you are new to this, try talking to some other group about how they estimate ticket sales and go by their guidance.
You can certainly approach your members and see if they can get any kind of sponsorship from their employers.
Some local firms like to sponsor community events and yours might qualify.
Perhaps you are using, say, a bottle of whiskey as a prop and could persuade a local off-licence to sponsor you for putting a mention of where you bought your whiskey from in the programme.
Certainly, advertising in the programme can bring in revenue, and quite a lot of revenue if you all work together.
Get yourself a fund-raising committee together and talk it through.
There are all kinds of fund-raising events to be had where you can enjoy yourselves and raise some money in the process.
Perhaps a local band would volunteer its services for an event.
Perhaps you could have an auction of promises - they're fun! (and the prospect of having the Director doing two hours' ironing for you for a donation to the group can be a jolly good laugh!) All this needs to be started off well in advance of finalising the show/play.
In this way you will not spend more time worrying about finances than preparing to put on a wonderful performance.
Do remember though, that those who contribute must be publicly acknowledged, unless they forbid this.
People like others to know, generally, that they have helped out in this way.
It's only fair that they are thanked.
There is no doubt that professional companies are constantly having to cut back, and constantly having to seek financial backers.
There is a lot of money to be made in the professional theatre by backing the right show.
There is absolutely no hope of making any significant money with an amateur performance.
So, you have to raise some money.
The first source is from members' subscriptions.
This is the hobby of your performers and backstage enthusiasts, and hobbies cost money.
Most amateur dramatics groups charge a membership fee and a fee for performing in each show.
There is also usually a charge, sometimes only a deposit, for the script and (if it's a musical) the score.
If they are not returned to the hire company with all the pencil marks erased, an extra fee will be charged.
The cast need to be aware of this and use a soft pencil when annotating their script.
Deposits should only be returned when a clean script is offered back.
You might also charge a rehearsal fee, but this can be included in the show fee.
Membership fees do not really amount to much, and will not be enough to be going on with.
You will need to get a grant, then, or several grants, unless your society has a whopping great bank balance.
If you go online and search under 'grants for the Arts' , or something similar, you should find both local and national sources of funding.
Often you can see from the content of the site what it is that will mean your application is looked on favourably.
Lottery funds are available for local amateur productions, but very difficult to obtain.
You will need help filling in the forms.
You will need a written Constitution for the group, and Aims and Objectives.
In the UK you will need a Child Protection Policy if you are going to have young people in the cast, and an Equal Opportunities Policy.
In the latter it really helps if you make it clear that no-one will be prevented from joining the group due to racial differences, or disability, or age, sexual orientation or because of inability to pay membership fees.
You will need to provide Minutes of the last couple of Committee Meetings you have held.
And you will need a Bank Account, with at least two signatories, for the money to be paid into.
If you can achieve all of the above, you should be able to apply for grant aid.
Apply for as many as possible.
Get someone to look over your application for accuracy, both of information and general grammatical and spelling accuracy.
Though it should not affect whether you get a grant or not, a mis-spelled, ungrammatical application (unless it's from the Dyslexia Society - bad joke, sorry!) will not enamour the granting body.
And mention each application you have made on the application form.
You look to be taking it seriously if you are casting your net wide.
Sometimes there are grants to specific sectors of the community - older people, for example, or women's groups.
Be aware of this and apply appropriately.
Don't be too hopeful, don't underestimate the amount of money you need, and don't offer your services for free.
(You can include them under a 'sponsorship in kind' section, where you put a cost on your services and donate them.
Also in this category would be rehearsal spaces lent for nothing, the services of the designer crew and other such generous contributions).
Be aware of all you need to spend, and be realistic.
It is not realistic to say things like, 'We are hopeful that we will sell 100% of our tickets' when this almost never happens.
If you are new to this, try talking to some other group about how they estimate ticket sales and go by their guidance.
You can certainly approach your members and see if they can get any kind of sponsorship from their employers.
Some local firms like to sponsor community events and yours might qualify.
Perhaps you are using, say, a bottle of whiskey as a prop and could persuade a local off-licence to sponsor you for putting a mention of where you bought your whiskey from in the programme.
Certainly, advertising in the programme can bring in revenue, and quite a lot of revenue if you all work together.
Get yourself a fund-raising committee together and talk it through.
There are all kinds of fund-raising events to be had where you can enjoy yourselves and raise some money in the process.
Perhaps a local band would volunteer its services for an event.
Perhaps you could have an auction of promises - they're fun! (and the prospect of having the Director doing two hours' ironing for you for a donation to the group can be a jolly good laugh!) All this needs to be started off well in advance of finalising the show/play.
In this way you will not spend more time worrying about finances than preparing to put on a wonderful performance.
Do remember though, that those who contribute must be publicly acknowledged, unless they forbid this.
People like others to know, generally, that they have helped out in this way.
It's only fair that they are thanked.
Source...